Haile Gebrselassie believes in a 2 hour marathon! And reveals the secret of the magical track in Berlin.

The most discussed topic in the running world right now is whether a 2-hour marathon is possible?

Against the backdrop of a constantly improving world record for the longest distance of the classic run – 42.2 km, the 2-hour milestone has turned from a purely speculative fantasy into a fairly real goal.

After Dennis Kimetto’s record run at Berlin 2014, less than 3 minutes are left before 2 hours.

Here is what Haile Gebrselassie, the best runner of the 90s of the last century and the ex-world record holder in the marathon in the 21st century, Haile Gebrselassie thinks about the 2-hour marathon and the reasons for such rapid progress at this distance:

“Now more and more runners are entering the marathon. There are more and more chances for great talent to show up. Also, training is getting better, there is more understanding of what works and what does not, medical standards and living standards are improving, and understanding of the role of food in training is improving.

In addition, Berlin has a very flat track. For about 32 km it goes up a little and then constantly down a little, so the track is very easy: you run downhill when you are tired. Few turns, everything is very flat. And the dates of the Berlin Marathon also play a role, the weather is almost always great there: in 9 out of 10 cases, about 12 degrees, low humidity and calm – great marathon weather.

If we talk about a 2-hour marathon, then in December there will be a conference in Newcastle dedicated to this particular opportunity. British professor Pistalidis has been talking about this for a long time, and even founded the “International Center for East African Running Science” about 10 years ago. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming years. How long does it take to run a 2 hour marathon? I think it will happen sooner than we expect. Quite possibly in the next 10 years!

Haile Gebrselassie dominated distance distance in the 1990s, winning World Championships and the Olympic Games from 1993 to 2000. Moreover, Gebre was even the world champion at a distance of 1500 m at the winter world championship in 1999, where he made a golden double: 1500 m and 3000 m.

And from the middle of the 2000s, Gebre went to the marathon. He has broken 42.2km world records twice, both times in Berlin: 2:04:26 in 2007 and 2:03:59 in 2008.

Gebrselassie became the 1st runner to break 2:04 in the marathon. For 5 years since reaching Gebre, the Kenyans Makau, Kipsang and Kimetto threw off 62 seconds.

Here is the record run of the great Gebre at the 2008 Berlin Marathon:

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